Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is a hormone made from amino acids produced by the pituitary gland. It helps control growth, cell repair, body composition, and metabolism. HGH is released in short bursts every three to five hours and then fades. The highest levels happen an hour after falling asleep. During puberty is the peak of secretion. Over time though, HGH releases slow down.
HGH is also known to help muscle growth, strength, and exercise performance. At the same time helping the body’s fast recovery against sickness and/or injuries.
Having low levels of HGH is a risk. It can affect the quality of life. You may be vulnerable to diseases. Aside from this, when you have poor HGH, there is a big chance you will gain fat. Ideal levels are important for weight loss, injury recovery, and athlete training.
To have optimal levels of HGH, your diet, and lifestyle make a huge impact. Here’s a list of ways to increase human growth hormones naturally.
Regular exercise is one of the most effective ways to increase HGH levels. However this depends on the type of exercise, the intensity and the food that you take around the workout.
Doing sprints, resistance training, weight training or interval training can help boost your HGH levels. High-intensity exercises provide the biggest spike.
Your ability to get to REM or deep sleep correlates to the level of your HGH. During sleeping is when the majority of HGH releases in pulses. Studies show that large pulses occur right before midnight. Smaller pulses happen in the early morning.
Try to get at least eight hours of undisturbed sleep. Create a relaxing routine before going to bed. Read a book. Avoid using electronics which emits blue light. This can lessen the quality of sleep. And refrain from taking caffeine starting in the late afternoon. If you miss hours of sleep, then you miss HGH bursts.
One notable HGH supplement is the Gamma-Aminobutyric acid or also known as GABA. It is an amino acid that works as a neurotransmitter in your brain. Neurotransmitters function as chemical messengers.
GABA has a natural calming effect on the brain and central nervous system. This means, it helps you relax, improves your sleep, and aids in fighting against stress.
A study shows taking a GABA supplement increases the HGH levels to 400% when resting. While only 200% rise after doing exercise.
Another known HGH supplement is the Arginine or L-arginine. It is an amino acid that is made naturally in the body.
When taken while doing exercise, Arginine doesn’t help much with the HGH levels. But when used on its own, no exercise, there was a spike in HGH levels.
A higher dose of Arginine also has positive effects compared to lower doses. The increase happens during sleep and is said to be 60% when taking Arginine in higher dosage.
A study suggests that the higher your body fat level, the difficult it is to produce HGH. It shows individuals with three times the amount of belly fat than the others had less the amount of human growth hormone.
Another study found that obese individuals had lower levels of HGH. After losing weight, their levels returned to normal. When you maintain a lean body, it can naturally boost your HGH levels. This may be because HGH secretion is directly regulated by ghrelin, a hormone mainly secreted in your stomach. Those people with excess abdominal fats have lower levels of ghrelin, thus have lower levels of HGH.
Another factor to low HGH levels is when you have an elevated insulin level. A high-carbohydrate diet or having a large amount of simple sugar can do this. Avoid eating sweets like cakes and cookies. Same as with refined carbohydrates such as white bread, white rice, pasta, soda, breakfast cereals to name a few.
Research shows healthy people have 3 to 4 times higher HGH levels than those individuals who are diabetic.
Always aim to impose a balanced diet. This is not only good for your HGH levels but also to your health.
Studies show that the majority of HGH is released during night time.
When you eat right around bedtime, this means you are producing insulin. Particularly high-carbo or high-protein meals can increase your insulin levels. It is said that insulin levels will only decrease after 2 to 3 hours of eating.
Again, having higher insulin levels will interfere with the HGH secretion that happens at night.
People wanting to lose weight tried fasting one way or the other. But, do they know it will boost their HGH levels?
One study shows that after three days of fasting, HGH levels spiked up by over 300%. After a week, they increased by 1,250%.
However fasting for the long-term is not ideal and not sustainable. Enter intermittent fasting. This is now the popular diet that takes a different approach. Instead of changing what you eat, you change when to eat.
There are different methods in doing intermittent fasting. But the general idea for all is that you eat normally some days of the week then cut back your intake on other days. One popular method is a daily 8-hour eating time and a 16-hour fasting. Another is the 5:2 fast diets. Normal eating for 5 days then you only eats 500-600 calories for 2 days a week.
How does this help with your HGH levels? Remember when you eat, you release insulin. Higher insulin level = low HGH levels.
Another is that it helps you lose body fats. Lesser body fats help the production of human growth hormone.
Take note, though that if you have medical conditions, talk with your doctor before you try intermittent fasting.
Beta-Alanine is a non-essential amino acid, and a known exercise supplement. It is said to be an aid in boosting HGH levels.
Once consumed, beta-alanine is turned into carnosine, the one that helps in increasing your stamina. Meaning you can perform more high-intensity exercises which then provide the biggest surge for your HGH levels.
Melatonin is a hormone found in our body. It is known to help in one’s sleeping patterns, increasing the quality and the duration.
A good night sleep will help boost your HGH levels. At the same time, one study found that melatonin supplement can even improve HGH levels directly.
Here is a list of other hgh supplements which help you boost your HGH levels.
Ideal HGH Levels is important
Human Growth Hormone is vital for promoting healthy growth in children and teens. This is the age when HGH is produced and released to the body at a high rate. As early as our late teens, the production slows down and rapidly dropping in the beginning of middle age. This causes a loss in muscle mass and speeds up the damages caused by aging.
Following the list above may help you increase your HGH levels.